Strange Phone Call

Bendrr

I had a message to call my mom this afternoon when I got home. Her voice concerned, she said "Michael, please call us as soon as you can, we heard you may have been hurt"
I called back to find out what was going on. Seems a sister in a nearby town heard on an Atlanta TV newscast that Michael Ganas was shot and another man killed in a gunfight in Atlanta. Well I haven't been to Atlanta today, haven't been in a gunfight, and definitely haven't been shot.
So we had a good laugh.
Then I got to thinking. Mom said the sister called her and my dad first and no one answered. So she started calling others trying to locate my folks.
Imagine the stories flying around middle Georgia tonight! I love it! By now the gunfight has probably become somewhere on the level of that firefight scene in "The Matrix".
Funny thing, tho. I surfed a bunch of sites for Atlanta news headlines and found no mention of the story.
mike.

DannyBear

Hello Bendr,

Noticed you are from middle Ga. Just wanted to say, back in 65-67 I pioneered in Eastman Ga., gave talks all over from Savanah east. I still remember fondly the 'southern hospitality' enjoyed while there.

Never have had better 'ice tea' or corn bread since I left.

Danny

joelbear

Hi guys,

I grew up and attended congregations in Jesup Georgia and Valdosta Georgia. You know anybody there? I had friends in most of the south Georgia circuits.

Danny, ever run into a Bro and Sis Skwarlow? Annointed special pioneers in Jesup in 65 to 67. I was just an itty bitty cub then.

email me directly if you prefer.

hugs

Joel

DannyBear

Hello Joel,

Had to pull out my Atlas to jog my memory a little. Most of the time we worked in central Ga. When the District Convention was held in Savannah, we moved into a brother's home, his name escapes me now, but he was a big fencing contractor there. It was a young single pioneer's dream, he had a beautiful single daughter, that all of us California guys fell in love with. Seems as though in those days, the Ga. 'peaches' really were, almost from birth, taught that they were to really take care of their man, please him with food and look good all at the same time. He Ha...I just loved those southern gals! What friendly and gracious people, at that time anyway. I suppose things have changed some.

Several of my pioneer partners, were called up to Bethel during the construction of the Farm's. In fact out of the six of us, only my best buddy at the time and I were left. I did go up to New York several times to visit Bethel and spent some time out at the farm.

I don't recall the names you mentioned. Do you remember the Powell's they were former Co couple, who were to old to continue, he settled in Eastman and lived in a house trailor behind the KH. What a character this ole guy was. Bombastic and said the funniest and sometime most ridiculous things from the platform. But everyone just laughed and he got away with it.

So many stories and believe it or not. I wouldn't trade the experiences I gained there. Even though I was under cult control, somehow those days still bring back fond memories.

Regards Joel.

Danny

Bendrr

Joel!!! I knew Brother and Sister Skwarlo for many years!
Brother Skwarlo married my mom and step dad in 74.
Sad to say, Brother Skwarlo passed away last year in a car wreck. He was well into his 90's. I just loved those two. They came from the New York area originally I think. Brother Skwarlo was almost a U.S. Senator at one point. That's a little trivia I picked up third-hand and don't know much about that story. They lived in a trailer behind the Kingdom Hall in Fort Valley thru the 70's and 80's.
Danny, If you were in that neck of the woods, you probably may know Eddie Williams and Roger Thompson from Eastman and Hawkinsville respectively. Also Drexel Weeks from McCrae. Wouldn't be much of a stretch if you heard of the Reagan clan from my neck of the woods-Otis Oliver and Obie.
What do you know, Georgia invades jw.com!
mike.

joelbear

Hi Mike,

I have dozens of Skwarlo stories. They were assigned to Jesup in the 60's where I lived from 64 to 68 as a young boy aged 7 to 10.

My favorite Francis Skwarlo quote "Persevere Joel persevere" on an incredibly hot July day out in service. One hot day he drove up to a Dairy Queen where I thought I was gonna get ice cream. He walked me around back to the water fountain and told me it was the wettest water in town, LOL. He also used to rub my knuckles together when he shook my hand and squeeze my knee cap real hard and make it move around and hurt. Oh, those annointed, they are a hoot.

Mitch does it to my leg every once in a while and calls it the grip of the annointed. LOL.

Did you ever know a Dale Driskell from Macon. He was my best friend for a while in Valdosta.

hugs

Joel

DannyBear

Bendrr,

Do I remember Drexel Weeks? The world is truly a small place. I spent many days on his farm, helping tend the hogs. The whole Week's clan was very kind to all of us young Calif. types, they were very patient with us, they laughed alot about our various faupaux's as respects 'black vs white' at the time. One of the first funny things was when I visited the Eastman dry cleaner's. I simply walked in the door with my arms full of clothes and plopped them on the counter. The lady didn't even speak to me, she kept waving her arms and pointing to the partition wall. I stood there like a big dummy not understanding what she was trying to tell me. Finally she got so frustrated with me, she said. "Mr. this here is the 'colored' side of the cleaner's, you need to go around the other side." My first experience with total segregation. Of course at that time even the congregations were segregated. A very interesting time and place.

Do you know how Drexel and family are doing? I knew most all the friends in Eastman, Mcrae, I think that I used to go quail hunting with a brother from McRae, I can't remember his name. One of the brother's there was a former gospel singer. He could really belt out the songs.

Have to go fix dinner for my lady.

Danny

Bendrr

Danny, I haven't seen Drexel in years. You may have known him before his accident in which he lost his arm. I knew his daughter Sheila very well, sweet girl but married a total idiot.
You may even have known the Grimsley family. Bobby Grimsley was a good friend of the Weeks and Eddie Williams.
Side story: I believe it was Eddie Williams' wife Ruth who one day started breast feeding her young'un during a Sunday meeting and caught the speaker, a cousin of mine, totally off guard.
Did you happen to know the Coleman's out of Hawkinsville? Ellery Coleman?

Bendrr

Joel, hi!
Love to hear your Skwarlo stories! Let's trade! In reverence, of course because Frank and Norma were as good as gold as you will ever find.
I remember Norma was accident prone. Frank thought this was good for a cheap laugh and would jokingly try to trip her sometimes after meetings in Fort Valley. She would just give this eye-rolling "he's so immature" reaction.
The whole congregation used to get a chuckle out of Brother Skwarlo after the song between the Ministry School and Service Meeting. The song would end and local announcements would start. Brother Skwarlo would be organizing his notes for whatever talk he had that meeting but the song we just sang would still be in his head and he would be melodiously humming it for all to hear, oblivious to the meeting trying to continue around him. Norma would nudge him and whisper loudly enough for the parking lot to hear "FRANK! BE QUIET!" and he would just smile as he stopped humming and go back to his notes.
I remember the knee thing very well! He also liked to try to teach gymnastics to us young tots. Flipping us in the kingdom hall. I remember his "knee tickle" as him asking "do you know what a horsie eats?" and the answer as he hit unheard of tickle nerves in my 5-year old knee was "HORSIE EATS CORN!"
the man had the energy of a teenager.
he used to change the oil in his old Ford Galaxie 500 in FIELD SERVICE CLOTHES!
If you and Danny were around these parts or still are, we probably know a lot of the same people.
I remember some of the driskells, but didn't know them well. Did you know Greg Crawford? I heard he went apostate.
My stepdad was an up-and-coming heavy. Charlie Ganas. Sure you never heard of the name Grimsley?
On the worldly side, if you were or still are around the area of Eastman and Dublin, do you know David Mobley or any of the Mobleys? Dublin Muffler?
this is fun to meet people on the WORLD-wide web and talk about an area of a few hundred miles.
nice to make some friends I kind of already know.
mike.

safe4kids

Hi guys, mind if I nudge my way in here to ask a question?? Thanks...
K, Bendrr...did you know any folks from the Perry, GA area?? Rod and Nancy McMahan or Lucy Gibbs? Your mention of the name Reagan recalled some Reagans from that area as well...I can't remember for sure but I think Pat Reagan and Mike Reagan...
anyway, just thought I'd ask

Dana

"A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born."
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Strange Phone Call

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